30 Engaging Documentary Photos

Documentary photography is when a photographer attempts to produce truthful, objective, and usually candid photography of a particular subject. We’ve compiled a selection of of 30 photos that greatly exemplifies that definition.

7 Comments

Powerful! It’s rare to see such thought provoking photography today. I was recently commenting that I grew up with LIFE magazine and its ability to tell stories through photo essays. Thank you for showcasing this collection, is it possible for links to editorial?

I’m so honored to be included in this photo series. Steve Hill is an amazing photographer and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with him. The ballet dancers in his photo Ballet on Canal are members of the unconventional contemporary ballet company New Bridges Ballet. You can see them performing all over New York City, just like in the photograph. Check them out at http://www.newbridgesballet.com

I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade but I stumbled on this page after googling the picture F*** You by Dian Agung Nugroho and honestly I have doubts of its authenticity since the little girl’s arm is distinctly different from the rest of her body or the picture, very suggestive of crude photoshop use.
I’m not too sure about the other so called photographs here too since if you take for example The Imaginary Groom by Matteo Mignani, you can see that the shadow is quite frankly something only achievable by photoshop alone so it kind of casts a shadow (no pun intended) of doubt on the credibility of the other real photographs featured here together.